Harold Marshall Sylvester Richards Sr. (August 28, 1894 – April 24, 1985), commonly known as H. M. S. Richards, was a well-known

Seventh-day Adventist The Seventh-day Adventist Church is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sabbath, and ...

evangelist and

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

. Born in

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...

, he is most famous for founding the ''

Voice of Prophecy The ''Voice of Prophecy'', founded in 1929 by H.M.S. Richards, Sr., is a Seventh-day Adventist religious radio ministry headquartered in Loveland, Colorado. Initially airing in 1929 on a single radio station in Los Angeles the ''Voice of Proph ...

'' radio ministry and was a pioneer in religious radio broadcasting. His ministry inspired broadcasts in 36 languages on more than 1,100 stations, and Bible courses in 80 languages offered by 144 correspondence schools.

Early life

Richards began his ministry as a tent preacher when he was 17. His brother worked as a driver for then Senator Warren G. Harding. Harding invited him to see a demonstration of the newly invented radio. Richards came to view radio as a way to bring the Gospel to nations. He came to California during the Great Depression and made radio broadcasts starting in 1929, when he gave a 15-minute guest sermon on KNX in Los Angeles. He noted that every six days 1,000,000 more people come into the world. He viewed the radio as a way of keeping up with these new additions to the human race. Richards married Mabel Annabel Eastman in 1920, and they had 1 daughter and 3 sons. He died in 1985 at the age of 90. In 1940, Richards ran on a very limited budget. By contrast, in 1980, he had a $6 million budget and a staff of researchers to help him avoid early foibles.

Radio broadcasting

Upon graduation from Washington Missionary College (now

Washington Adventist University Washington Adventist University is a private Seventh-day Adventist university in Takoma Park, Maryland. History Washington Adventist University was established in 1904 by the Seventh-day Adventist Church as Washington Training College. In ...

) in 1919, H.M.S. Richards served as an evangelist in various places in the

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and

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and during this period experimented with radio announcements in connection with his meetings. He began regular radio broadcasts on October 19, 1929 on

KNX (AM) KNX (1070 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Los Angeles, California. It airs an all-news radio format and is owned by Audacy, Inc. KNX is one of the oldest stations in the United States, having received its first broadcasting license, ...

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. Later Richards presented daily live broadcasts of ''The Tabernacle of the Air'' over KGER in

Long Beach Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

, and live weekly remote broadcasts from his tabernacle to KMPC (AM) in

Beverly Hills Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. ...

. In his presentations he taught history. "Bible prophecy is not given so we can see what will happen, but so we can see what already happened, and get confirmation that the Bible is true. If it came true historically, then when Jesus gives his wonderful teachings, we ought to believe that, too," he noted. In January 1937 his radio footprint expanded over a network of several stations of the Don Lee Broadcasting System, and the name of the broadcast was changed to the ''Voice of Prophecy''. His first coast-to-coast broadcast over 89 stations of the Mutual Broadcasting System was on Sunday, January 4, 1942. Throughout the years Richards' ''Voice of Prophecy'' broadcasts were marked by an opening theme song of "Lift Up the Trumpet" performed by the King's Heralds quartet and closed with his poem "Have Faith in God" each week having a new verse written.

As an author

In addition to published sermons and booklets, Richards authored the following books: *''The Indispensable Man'' *''The Promises of God'' *What Jesus Said *''Feed My Sheep'' *''Look to the Stars'' *''Why I Am a Seventh-day Adventist'' *''One World'' *''Revival Sermons'' *''Day After Tomorrow''

Awards and biographies

*Awarded the Honor Citation by the

National Religious Broadcasters National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) is an international association of evangelical communicators. While theologically diverse within the evangelical community, NRB members are linked through a Declaration of Unity that proclaims their joint comm ...

in 1967 and 1970. *Honorary doctorate conferred by

Andrews University Andrews University is a private Seventh-day Adventist university in Berrien Springs, Michigan. Founded in 1874 as Battle Creek College, it was the first higher education facility started by Seventh-day Adventists and is the flagship universi ...

in 1960. *Washington Adventist University's faculty of religion building "HMS Richards Hall" on Flower Ave, Takoma Park, MD is named in his honor *

La Sierra University La Sierra University (La Sierra or LSU) is a private, Seventh-day Adventist university in Riverside, California. Founded in 1922 as La Sierra Academy, it later became La Sierra College, a liberal arts college, and then was merged into Loma Lin ...

renamed its School of Religion the "H.M.S. Richards Divinity School" and has also designated an "H.M.S. Richards Library" to honor him for his work in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. His life has been the subject of two biographies: *''H.M.S. Richards Man Alive'' by his daughter Virginia Cason *''H.M.S. Richards: A Biography'' by Robert E. Edwards, longtime member of the King's Heralds

References

External links

*
Biography
on the Voice of Prophecy website * John Robertson,
The Voice of H. M. S. Richards
. ''

Spectrum A spectrum (plural ''spectra'' or ''spectrums'') is a condition that is not limited to a specific set of values but can vary, without gaps, across a continuum. The word was first used scientifically in optics to describe the rainbow of colors ...

'' 13:1 (September 1982), pp. 36–43.
H.M.S. Richards Library
at La Sierra University, which houses Richards' personal library of approximately 10,000 books, and the majority of his private papers.
Articles by Richards
cataloged in the Seventh-day Adventist Periodical Index (SDAPI) {{DEFAULTSORT:Richards, H. M. S. Seventh-day Adventist religious workers American Seventh-day Adventist ministers History of the Seventh-day Adventist Church American religious writers Christian writers 1894 births 1985 deaths American radio personalities

Early life

Radio broadcasting

As an author

Awards and biographies

See also

References

External links